Mary Sanchez

Renaming Kansas City International Airport for Martin Luther King Jr. has drawn broad community support. It’s a bold idea, but one that has little connection to the issues that define the life and death of the civil rights icon.

Kansas City knows well the story of Lamonte McIntyre, imprisoned for 23 years for a double murder he did not commit. This is the story of his mother, Rosie McIntyre, and the alleged sexual abuse by a police detective that she believes may have led to her son’s wrongful conviction.

The week offered a stunning example, provided by Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, of the danger of reducing a complicated foreign policy issue to the campaign banter of partisan politics. Hawley’s jab at Sen. Claire McCaskill suggested she was loyal to the mullahs of Iran.

Immigration has been an obsession of Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s since he was a new employee in the U.S. Attorney General’s office on Sept 11, 2001. The terrorist attack sparked Kobach’s hyper-focus, which plays upon nativist fears.

Heated debate has been swirling in Kansas around a bill that seeks to allow religious-based agencies to hold state adoption contracts, while acting on their beliefs, such as denying adoptions by gay and lesbian parents. What’s missing are the voices of pew Catholics.

Barbara Bush grieved the loss of a child after her daughter Robin died of leukemia at the age of 3. My mother lost a child as well, Mary Sanchez writes, and she felt a connection with the former first lady.

More than 10 years ago, Kansas Citian Thomas Becker went to Bolivia as a Harvard law student and stumbled upon a massive human rights violation: indigenous victims of military forces that fired on unarmed civilians in a battle over natural gas reserves. The resulting case came to a conclusion this week.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was questioned this week about the Trump administration’s view of police shootings. There is no role for the federal government was her dismissive reply.

Russell Bucklew came within hours of being executed before a stay by the U.S. Supreme Court saved him, for now. Another person, Cheryl Pilate, anxiously awaiting word that night too. She's the attorney who has spent years trying to afford Bucklew a fair process.

Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph has canceled an upcoming concert at Visitation Church by Dan Schutte, a renowned composer of church hymns. The decision has upset many parishioners who believe the decision was a response to pressure exerted by an anti-gay website.

Kansas City law firms are being tapped for attorneys willing to volunteer to represent immigrants who are in deportation proceedings. The pro bono work on bond hearings could mean the difference of whether a qualified immigrant could be released for further legal work, or face immediate removal.

The National Rifle Association has become a public pariah since the school shooting in Florida, with corporate sponsors bailing and Walmart and Dick’s Sporting Goods adopting stricter rules for gun sales.

“He is a small man, but he seems like a fearless giant in his fight for social justice,” said Nicole Raeburn of the University of San Francisco. “Every progressive cause that you can think of, Thomas is there fighting for it.”

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America organized from a maternal instinct, multiplied by the thousands. On Wednesday, when 17 died in the Florida school shooting, the Kansas chapters came for Topeka legislators.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley sullied his own credentials by twisting disdain for the so-called sexual revolution of the 60’s, claiming that a loosening of moral standards led us to the global scourge of human trafficking. History, and common sense, informs us better.

President Donald Trump has emboldened and legitimized people who have twisted views and deplorable records on voting rights, civil rights and basic human rights. Thomas Farr, a nominee for U.S. District Court Judge, and former sheriff Joe Arpaio are two prime examples.

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"I sat outside my home and listened to my sister scream for help," wrote Kayla Perez, 21, of Overland Park, who is the author of the first story in a new book, "Welcome to My Neighborhood." It is framed as a children's book, similar to Golden Book